Mandriva 2011 Almost Ready, RC2 Released

Mandriva 2011 RC2 was released yesterday with lot of bug fixes and stability improvements. In the release announcement Eugeni Dodonov also introduced the new release manager, Denis Koryavov from ROSA Labs. ROSA Labs is taking a large role in this release primarily with its new interface elements.

There were no significant changes in the appearance of this release, because these last developmental releases are all about the bugs. In his final announcement for the project Dodonov, on behalf of Koryavov, said, “In this release candidate we fixed more than 300 bugs and added or changed about 700 packages.”

Some of the given changes since RC1 include:

* Linux 2.6.38.7, KDE 4.6.5, Firefox 5.0
* VirtualBox guest additions by default
* Improved Atheros & Intel Ethernet support
* New and improved printer support
* Improved 3G support
* ATI and NVIDIA proprietary graphic drivers removed from default install
* Ramped up work to bring Long Term Release by end of year
* New extra cursors, icons, and wallpapers

This is the final release candidate planned for 2011. Developers are working hard to fix some of the remaining bugs and early testers are urged to report any not previously found. Final release is scheduled for August 28, 2011.

With this release Mandriva is trying to etch out a position among the other new desktop interfaces emerging the past few years. First with KDE 4, and then with GNOME 3 and Unity this year, users may be suffering from new-gui fatigue and not welcome yet another departure from the tried and true. On the other hand, given that ROSA isn’t a complete redesign, leaving most of the desktop as traditionally expected, Mandriva’s efforts may not be a difficult transition. As with all new ideas, one will have to wait for the final reviews.